What’s more, in doing so, we found at least five species previously unknown to science and 128 species that had never been reported in the state.

Luke, for his part, even had a chance to name some of them. In fact, he and Dr. Boris Kondratieff, a professor of entomology at Colorado State University, named one species of stonefly “Perlesta mihucorum” after me and my wife, Janet, an associate professor at Paul Smith’s College.

Need for Further Study

Both Luke and I were surprised at the diversity we found in the Adirondacks. As Luke put it, “There continues to be a need for further biodiversity research in the state.”

Maybe we don’t know as much about the Adirondack Park as we thought we did. Our study seems to suggest that it does function as a large reserve for biodiversity — in this case of aquatic fauna — not only for New York state but for the entire Northeast region.